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Dr Ben Spies-ButcherLecturerContact DetailsOffice: C3B/607 Phone: (61 2) 9850 4074 Fax No: (61 2) 9850 9355 |
Profile
Ben Spies-Butcher is lecturer in Economy and Society in the Department of Sociology. Ben completed his PhD in Political Economy at the University of Sydney while working in the non-government sector on issues of human rights, particularly refugee and Indigenous rights. His current research interests are focused on social policy, particularly the economic and political implications of social policy. He teaches in Economics and Society and Social Policy.
Current Research Agenda
Purchaser-provider relations and disability employment (with Prof Ian March, USyd).
This research project examines changes to the provision of employment assistance to people with disability in Australia. The research has been sponsored by ACE National, the peak body representing disability employment providers. A full report will be published as part of the ANZSOG Monograph series in 2008.
Tax and Welfare Preferences (with Dr Shaun Wilson and Mr Adam Stebbing, Macquarie)
This project examines the tax and welfare preferences of Australians reported in the Australian Survey of Social Attitudes 2005. The research suggests that there is a high degree of consistency in the way Australians approach questions about tax and welfare, contrary to much of the literature in the area.
Civil Society at the Local Level in Sydney (with Dr Ariadne Vromen and Prof Ian Marsh, USyd).
This project examines how people engage with democracy at the local level in six state Sydney electorates - Auburn, Balmain, Cabramatta, Manly, Penrith and Vacluse. The research includes a survey on different non-government organizations in the areas, their structures and activities.
Units taught in 2007-08
- SOC 182 Economy and Society
- SOC 233 Social Policy
- Soc 831 Qualitative Methods
- SGY381 Developing Social Policy (Open University)
- SGY387 Economics and Society (Open University)
Recent Publications
2007, 'The New South Wales Election of 24 March 2007: Explaining the Re-election of an Unpopular Government', Australian Journal of Political Science, 42(4).
2007, 'Did WorkChoices impact on the NSW election results?' Digest article coauthored with Shaun Wilson, Australian Review of Public Affairs, May.
2006, 'Deportees' fate shows there's no solution in the Pacific', coauthored with Anna Samson and Phil Glendenning, New Matilda.com, October 20.
2006, 'Using the resources boom to fund the future', coauthored with Tom Keily, New Matilda.com, May 17.
2005, 'Social Capital and Civic Neoliberalism: Why the Australian Right has used the politics of recognition', Politics of Recognition Conference Proceedings, Deakin University, 2005.
2004, 'Election 2004: Is free university education affordable?', Digest article, Australian Review of Public Affairs, September.
2003, 'Social Capital', Stilwell & Argyrous (eds), Economics as a Social Scines: readings in political economy, 2nd edition, Sydney, Pluto Press.
2003, 'Social Capital in Economics: Why social capital does not mean the end of ideology', The Drawing Board, 3(3).
2002, 'The Rational Choice Origins of Social Capital', Australian journal of Social Issues, 37(2).
Recent Positions
2002-2007: Senior Researcher, Edmund Rice Centre for Justice and Community Education
2006 - : Secretary, REDWatch resident action group.
2007 - : Chair, Settlement Neighbourhood Centre.
2007 - : Board member, Edmund Rice Business Ethics Initiative.
2008 - : Lecturer, Department of Sociology, Macquarie University.